Dear Students,

I want to let you know that I am teaching a “Great Books of Journalism” class in the fall of 2013. It’s a pretty new class–this will be its third time out. The only class for which ICES evaluations are available got an excellent rating by students. The class is taught as a Book Club. It’s open to all College of Media students, including those in Ag-Com, who will have reached sophomore or above status. The idea is to introduce you to the great breadth and depth of profoundly significant and beautifully written in-depth books by journalists. We’ll meet once a week in the evening and talk about the readings from each of eight books. The books will date from more than 100 years ago to recent years and cover topics such as business and political power and corruption, rural poverty, the atomic bombing of Japan, the history of oranges, a soldier’s-eye view of the Iraq War, the daily life among India’s poor, and traveling the back roads of America. All of the books are written to be read for pleasure as well as knowledge. Hey, it’s journalism! The books are available in the commercial, paperback marketplace, no textbooks. You’ll write an opinion essay on each of them. Then we’ll talk about how the books were done and how they were received. Grades will be based on the eight essays and an overview essay at the end. We won’t have a final exam.

I’m passionate about this subject and excited about teaching the class.

The course is listed as a J-460 in the Journalism curriculum.

Thanks,

Walt Harrington

Professor of Journalism